About Fire Times By constantly monitoring the interests and priorities of fire and rescue service professionals, Fire Times, published six times a year, strives to maintain its close industry focus. The latest survey of regular readers was conducted during the summer of 2013 to confirm their activities and personal responsibilities, as well as gathering opinions about the publication and the industry it serves. The following independent analysis summarises the feedback received from 158 registered readers, representing a 10.96% response rate. This summary is drawn from the on-line Survey Monkey records, which should be consulted for detailed results and additional information.

Q1. Type of organisation Collectively, readers directly involved in fire and rescue represent over 82% of the total, including 62% working for public services. This confirms that a high proportion of readership is devoted to key target markets. Of the remainder, hospitals are well represented at 8.73%. Q2. No of employees at your establishment A broad cross-section of establishment sizes is covered by the Fire Times readership. This includes almost 60% of respondents working for establishments with more than 500 employees. Q3. Your primary responsibility Over 60% of respondents are directly involved in the management of fire and rescue services, while 45% are responsible for operations. Other key areas of responsibility are training (35%), health and safety (28%), technical matters (27%) and procurement/purchasing and supply (24%). Q4. Purchasing responsibilities More than two-thirds of respondents are directly involved in the purchasing process, with almost 50% responsible for equipment specification and approval. Q5. In which of the following areas are you involved in your organisation’s buying decisions? Readers of Fire Times are heavily involved in the purchase of a wide range of products and services required by the fire and rescue service. Prominent among these are PPE (58%), training and training equipment (53%), rescue equipment (53%),

breathing apparatus equipment (42%), vehicles (42%) and fire prevention/protection equipment (41%). Q6. Annual organisation/company budget/turnover More than 30% of the organisations/companies for which Fire Times readers work have an annual budget/turnover in excess of £75 million. Q7. For how long have you been a regular reader of Fire Times? Strong readership loyalty is a key feature of the Fire Times success story. Almost two-thirds of respondents have received Fire Times for more than six years, with over 26% having read the publication for more than a decade. Q8. Which of the following options most closely reflects your reading pattern for the magazine? Almost every copy of Fire Times is either read and passed to colleagues (57%) or is read and retained for future reference (41%). Q9. How many colleagues share your copy of Fire Times? It has been calculated that every copy of Fire Times is read by at least five people, thereby increasing the magazine’s total readership to in excess of 25,000 per issue. Q10. How do you usually become aware of new products or services that may be of use to your organisation? An impressive 91% of respondents first become aware of new products and services via the pages of Fire Times. Otherwise, work colleagues, internet searches and trade exhibition attendance are the most popular sources of information. Q11. Do you use the Fire Times reader enquiry service? A disappointing 23% of respondents use the Fire Times reader enquiry service. This compares to 47% in 2008 and begs the question whether continuation of the service is viable. Because 54% of respondents already use the internet as an information resource, replacement of the reader enquiry number with web contact details at the end of editorial items may be more helpful to readers. Q12. Have you purchased a product or service after first reading an article or advertisement in Fire Times? 19% of respondents have purchased a product or service after reading about it in Fire Times. Examples are given under Q13. Q13. If your answer to question 12 is ‘yes’, please list the product(s) or service(s) purchased. BA, Branches (x 2), Cologne scissors, Cooling devices, Dummys, Fire gears, Fire Service College for training, Foam (x 2), Gloves, Hoods, Hoses (x 3), Lighting (x 2), lockers, Medical equipment, Petzl IDs, Pipe, PPE (x 2), PPV trainer from Hagen, Pumps, Reach pole, Rescue equipment (x 2), Ruth Lee training manikins, Smoke alarms (x 2), Stab-fast equipment, Thermal imagers (x 3) TIC, Training supplies, Vimpex equipment (various), Q14. Please indicate which of the following editorial/advertisement sections you read most frequently.

The popularity of different editorial and advertisement sections can be graded as follows: 1. News 2. Technical features 3. Product information 4. First words 5. Exhibition previews/reports 6. Last words 7. Display advertisements 8. Classified advertisements 9. Contracts & people 10. Personality profiles 11. Company profiles 12. Buyers guide Q15. The following are examples of editorial features published in recent issues of Fire Times. Please indicate which topics interest you: Training and PPE are the most popular of the subjects listed. The popularity of every editorial feature given is graded as follows: 1. Training & Training Equipment 2. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) 3. Dealing with Hazardous Materials 4. Vehicles & Vehicle Equipment 5. Community Fire Safety 6. Conferences & Exhibitions 7. RTAs (including primary medical care) 8. Rural Fire Fighting 9. Communications & IT Equipment (including e-Fire) 10. Inland Water Rescue 11. Urban Search & Rescue Q16. Are there any subjects that you would particularly like to be featured in Fire Times? Subject areas mentioned include the following: Fire protection / Fire specialists / Private sector. NHS-related subjects. MACC exercises and briefings – working with the military. International features. HMP fire issues. Significant incidents. Q&A-based problems page. Aviation issues (x 4 requests). Rope rescue. RPE. Leadership development and the need professionalise the service’s management. Fire and rescue service/NHS joint working. Educational courses.

Situations vacant. How EASA could affect the European ARFFS. Fire in prisons / Fires in custodial premises and how to achieve arson convictions as a result of cell fires. More about co/first responder and links with the ambulance service (x 2 requests). Fire bikes. Specialist industrial fire equipment. Fire behaviour and thermal imagery. Hospital rescue / fires and evacuation. Health and safety and other relevant legislation news (x 2 requests). Fire investigation causes and case studies. FI-specific PPE educational courses. Fire appliance suppliers and other brigade transport. Maritime firefighting support (x 2 requests). Fixed fire suppression systems. Emergency service profiles. CBRN response (x 2 requests). Fire safety in mental health hospitals and how they differ from acute hospitals. Large animal rescue. Recruitment resources. The role of social media in the fire service. Hazardous materials. Environmental protection. Q17. Would you prefer to read Fire Times on the internet or as a printed publication? A traditional printed magazine format remains the preferred options for readers to receive Fire Times. Only 27% would prefer both print and internet platforms, while internet only is the choice of just 7%. Q18. Fire Times also publishes business sector-related wall maps. How useful do you find these products? An impressive 84% of respondents describe the wall maps produced by Fire Times as either useful or very useful. Q19. Do you use these wall maps as reference tools? Over 50% of respondents use Fire Times wall maps as sources of reference information. Q20. Which of the following statements reflects most closely your overall impression of Fire Times: Over 63% of readers describe Fire Times as a valuable source of information for the fire and rescue service industry, with almost 30% describing it as the sector’s leading publication. Q21. Further comments and suggestions about Fire Times: The additional comments received represent a typical cross-section of positive and negative remarks, including some useful advice and other observations that could be used in promotional material etc:

“A good publication with the right amount of features and shorter items of information” “A very useful and user-friendly publication at the forefront of Fire and Rescue Service-related magazines, covering current and innovative developments” “Include details of case studies from previous incidents along with any learning points, ie The Herald of Free Enterprise etc” “I look forward to receiving and reading Fire Times. I don’t pass it on to my colleagues as they receive their own copies. However, we do discuss certain stories/articles within the magazine. I usually hold on to my copy for some time as a source of reference.” “Fire Times covers all areas that you need to know about, both from a firefighter and officer point of view. Keep up the good work.” “The publication provides a refreshing outlook on new and innovative equipment. Although I often find Local Authority Brigades are the last to have state-of-the-art equipment, it is good to know what is out there!” “A good journal that gives specific information to the industry.” “I do already receive Fire Times Magazine and do wish to keep receiving it as it's really a valuable source of information concerning the Fire & Rescue Service technical information. “ “An excellent source of relevant and current information. I find some of the articles really interesting.” “Always an excellent source of informative reading.” Contact is Colin Robinson: [email protected]